


Novocaine

by CaptainKaithr



Series: The songs our lives sing [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat gets a Talking To, Gen, I mean technically Cai is nearer to death but uh, Song Based, akuma fic, dreams & disasters duo, nightmare akuma, nightmares worked better for her (and also to oppose Weaver so), own miraculous holder, there's more talking than action tbh, weaver was created because of miraculous ladybug so I guess it's fitting he ends up in the fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2019-10-29 05:59:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17802356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainKaithr/pseuds/CaptainKaithr
Summary: Singing I am your worst, I am your worst nightmare





	1. In Which the Akuma is Dealt With

**Author's Note:**

> Insp is _Novocaine_ by FoB
> 
> I've absolutely had this sitting finished since like... November oops lmao

The nightmares started in the catacombs, with skulls crumbling free from the walls and spiders slipping from shadowed crevices to grow to the size of dinner plates. 

As people ran and spilled out into the streets, some stayed frozen where they were, petrified by fear, and so saw the woman that looked like death. 

She was dressed in grave shrouds and her skin seemed to be rotted away in places, so that her bones could be seen, and the gleaming imprint of a skull mask was upon her sallow skin. 

She paid those frozen with fear no passing glance as she made her almost leisurely way out of the catacombs and into a bright Parisian summer day. 

A feeling of unease swept over those nearby, which only intensified as the spiders and skulls came out and _changed_ into blurring shapes, a darkening and ominous cloud almost like a miasma that began to spread out across the rooftops of Paris. 

The faint outline of a butterfly shone over her eyes. 

“Yes, yes,” the akuma said, in lightly accented and halting French, waving a dismissive hand. “They will come, so I hear. They always come.” She turned, and focused on a person who hadn’t backed far enough away. “I wonder if _they will hear the screams_.” Her voice descended into shades of dream, seeping through the mind with chills and unease. 

A blurring shape descended on the person and became thicker, ropes and chains to hold them down. They folded into fetal position as they hit the ground and began to scream, twisting violently as if to shake free of _something_ that no one else could quite properly see. 

The akuma smiled as the person was wrapped in solidifying miasma like a cocoon, and the blurring of skulls and spiders and malignant forms became a whip made of fine strands in her hand. 

 

Ladybug flung herself into the air and over rooftops, to where the screams rang loudest. She’d almost thought it was going to be a quiet day, but no. Hopefully they could deal with this quickly, and– 

She landed on a roof overlooking the entrance to the catacombs, and her breath caught in her throat. 

She’d had an uneasy feeling since before transforming – it and Tikki had alerted her to the fact that something was wrong in the city – and it had only grown as she’d got closer. Now, crouched where she was, it was stronger and ever, and every hair was prickling, fear beginning a light race through her senses. 

This was ridiculous. There was– 

Oh god, there were spiders. 

As a rule, Marinette liked to say that she was _not_ afraid of spiders, thank you very much. They had a few too many legs to be _really_ comfortable with, but… nothing that set her heart racing like this. 

Then again, she didn’t normally run across spiders that were easily spotted on the ground from a _roof top_. These were big, and spreading out from the entrance to the catacombs, and wherever they found a person (she couldn’t blame them for being frozen with fear, she suspected her suit shielded her from the worst of the effect, but still-) they seemed to… pull them in on themselves. Down to the ground, where they were covered in webbing until they were cocooned in it. 

Now that she realised what those odd casings were, she could see them _everywhere_. And the chilling, sobbing moans were eerie in the air, dying back from broken screams and harsh crying. 

Ladybug shivered and looked for the akuma. 

There was a woman standing in the entrance to the catacombs, and her features and form were shrouded in shadows and… cobwebs. She was wrapped up in cobwebs, as neatly as one of the cocoons on the ground. 

Ladybug started spinning her yoyo until it was a humming blur beside her. Was that another victim? A guard, a decoy, hiding the akuma? She truly hoped she didn’t have to go down into the catacombs themselves, that would not be easy. “Where are you, Chat?” she murmured, but he hadn’t shown so much as a whisker yet. 

He’d turn up when he was needed. 

Ladybug leapt down into the square, landing on a streetlamp for a nearer vantage point as her yoyo sliced through the web holding the person in place. 

It fell away into streams of gold dust that faded into nothingness, seeming to lead back up to a building before they disappeared from sight. Ladybug tensed as she saw that the shadows hadn’t disappeared with the cobwebs, and – 

The akuma blinked, shaking her head and yawning as if she had just woken from a dream. 

Ladybug saw the skull imprint of a mask over her eyes and cursed. Catching her yoyo, she spun it at her side and stayed where she was perched. The pulsing rhythm of _fear_ and _needling unease_ had only intensified once the web was gone, and she could feel her heart beating faster as she fought to keep her breathing steady. 

The akuma looked about and pinpointed Ladybug. “Well. You aren’t _quite_ the insect I was looking for, but–” She cut off, the familiar butterfly mask glowing before her eyes. “Yes, yes, I know.” She extended a hand, and a whip spooled out of the shadows that surrounded her, long and shifting and finely many-stranded. If Ladybug looked too closely at it (and she did, at first, drawn in by the lure, the promise of something she couldn’t quite grasp), she could see it was made of hair and longings and that slight tang of _something wrong_. “Your miraculous, if you please.” She spoke in broken French, but the intent was clear. They all wanted the same thing. 

Ladybug leapt free of the lamppost as the whip lashed out for her, swinging from a strut and landing on the thin railing of a balcony three flights up. She needed Chat Noir _now_ , to run distraction while she – while she– 

Someone drew in a shuddering gasp from the balcony behind her, and Ladybug _flinched_ , the fear spiking through her because she hadn’t noticed anyone there and what if this akuma did have people controlled and waiting, and what if this was _it_ and she’d finally _failed_ \- 

Behind her, folded into a shady corner where they were out of view, crouched a person with glowing thread woven about his fingers. 

Ladybug pressed back against the railings, trying to keep out of sight of the akuma and out of reach of – whoever this was, yoyo in her hand as she called Chat. 

He looked up. A tight hood covered his face, from the bridge of his nose up, and – and those were _eyes_ , extra _eyes_ about where she assumed his real ones were, all shimmering black and different sizes. 

Ladybug stared at them, eyes wide. His suit was tight fitting, like her own, but a deep purple so dark it was almost black, and patterned as if it were segmented. In his hands spooled golden thread, golden… web. Like that which had covered the akuma. 

“Who are you?” she hissed, chancing a brief look to see what the akuma was doing, dropping down below the level of the balcony as the akuma lashed out with her whip. 

The thread spooled between his hands and – and other… _appendages_ , not quite hands but segmented legs, on his sides. Two extra sets, untangling thread that didn’t quite seem real. “What happened? I _had_ her, I was getting _through_ to her.” His French was – better than the akuma’s, but still noticeably not his first language. Maybe the suits made it easier. 

“That was – you cocooned everyone?” 

“No! No, just my – just her.” He looked up at her, and Ladybug could finally see the difference between his _real_ eyes and those that were just a part of the mask. 

Ladybug stifled a shriek. “Who _are_ you?” she repeated. He couldn’t be part of the akuma, but she wasn’t sure what else– 

“My Lady, where are you?” Chat Noir spoke from her yoyo. 

“Chat!” She snapped the yoyo up so she could see him. “By the catacombs.” She flicked a glance beyond the yoyo, to the person in front of her. 

“The _cat_ a _combs_ , hey? I didn’t realise it was grooming day.” 

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Be _quick_ , Chat.” 

“As I can.” He grinned, and the call cut out. 

“ _I know you’re up there, little bug_.” 

She was peculiarly passive for an akuma. No destroying anything, no chasing people down. Maybe everyone in the vicinity was already cocooned at her feet. 

The moaning groans hadn’t got any louder, but they were persistent and pervasive. 

“I can help,” the other person said. “She’s my – I know her.” He offered a hand, his real hand, the one not holding the spool of thread. “Weaver.” 

A woven bracelet glinted on his wrist; plaited into segments, it held a venomous bright pattern of an hourglass, separated into segments. Another miraculous, perhaps? Not one she’d heard of. 

“Ladybug.” She made the decision and took his hand. “Have you seen where–” 

Shadows blocked out the midday sun, and they both looked up to see a tangled web of hair stretching up to the rooftop above them. 

They leapt, one to either side before the whip came smashing down where they had been. In its wake scurried smaller spiders, the whisper of doubt and a chill wind. 

Chat Noir arrived, spinning his baton to whack the whip away before it retracted back to the akuma, and landed on the edge of the balcony. “What’s got your hair in a knot?” 

The akuma bared her teeth, eyes tracking the hero’s movements as he sprang away towards where Ladybug crouched behind a car. “ _You have so much_ fear,” she whispered. “ _Does it_ plague _your_ nights?” 

Was it just Ladybug’s imagination, or was the day growing darker? She cast a glance at Chat, whose eyes were glowing luminous green. 

“This is new.” 

“Horrificator,” she reminded him. This one seemed to be playing on fears too, albeit in a slightly different way. 

He frowned, considering that. Then he shook his head before his eyes widened, and he lunged past her to smash something with his baton. 

Ladybug tensed and stayed as still as she could, feeling the heat of his body from where they were almost touching. 

“Spiders?” He drew back to his crouch, and his staff was slick with dark, viscous fluids. “Spiders and – hair?” 

“Nightmares,” said the other hero, the new hero, as he landed in beside them, coiling in his golden thread. “That’s her deal.” The shadows of other legs on his sides was strengthened in the gathering gloom, and they almost seemed to have gained more substance, balancing him against the car. They weren’t _human_ legs, they were too… segmented. And those extra eyes… 

“You know her?” Chat’s ears flattened, his eyes narrowing to slits, perhaps coming to the conclusion that Ladybug had almost made herself. 

“Don’t let her whip entangle you,” Weaver replied, and bounded off again. 

Chat glanced at Ladybug. 

“He was here when I arrived.” Ladybug shrugged. “He… _seems_ to be helping.” She peeked over the car. 

Weaver was most noticeable by his golden thread, which whipped about behind him, lengthening and falling in patterns from the spool in his hand. Where it touched the cocoons, it seemed to dissolve into them and the whimpering grew quieter. 

The akuma lashed out at him with her whip and he leapt, catching at a post with two of his extra legs and swinging away. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a glance and dived around opposing ends of the car, weapons at the ready. 

“Hey, Nightmare!” Chat yelled, running towards her. “Hold your horses!” 

“ _What_?” She turned to look at him, narrowing her eyes. She didn't raise her voice, but they could all hear her. She was the whisper in the back of their minds, seeding doubt. Telling them they couldn't do this.

“Let’s not _race ahead of ourselves_!” He grinned and leapt sideways, avoiding a flick from a thin strand of her whip. He couldn’t see what Ladybug was doing, but that was fine. She’d be working on a plan. 

That this akuma hadn’t gone after anyone in particular was odd. But at least she was staying put, that made it easier. 

“Cai–” The other hero, calling the akuma’s attention to himself. 

“ _I am not Cai_ ,” she retorted, swinging to face the other hero. “ _Call me Moroi, for such that I am_.” 

Chat frowned. That was… not as to the point as some of the others. “Hey! Hey, spider… dude? Are you spider-man?” It sort of made sense, with his suit and whatever he was doing with that spool of thread. 

“Weaver.” The other hero laughed and ducked away from the whip as it lashed his way. “But yes, a spider.” 

“Where’s the akuma?” Ladybug landed in beside them, coiled in her yoyo and flung it out again to intercept the whip, pulling it off course. “Weaver, any–” 

Her yoyo tangled in the strands, and she was pulled off her feet, yanked towards the akuma. 

“Ladybug!” Chat leapt forward, reaching out a hand to grab at hers. He dug in his feet and pulled back. 

Weaver swung his thread out and bound it about the whip ahead of Ladybug’s yoyo, and the strands holding it dissolved to fine purple mist. 

With the tension gone, both Ladybug and Chat went tumbling back, landing in a heap against a car. 

“Are you alright?” Weaver landed lightly beside them. 

Ladybug pulled herself free and offered Chat a hand as she got to her feet. “Can you neutralise the whip? And then we can get closer, and maybe work out what her item is.” 

“Her item?” 

“Where the akuma is, it must be the source of her power.” Ladybug coiled in her yoyo. “Maybe her whip?” 

Weaver frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t know.” 

“Something precious to her,” Chat said. 

“Perhaps her... scarf?” Weaver tilted his head. “I don’t know, I’m-” 

Chat flicked his head around and knocked her out of the way. 

"Chat!" Ladybug tumbled through the air and bounced against an awning before catching a lamppost and halting herself. She spun out her yoyo and leapt up to a higher vantage point, circling the square and looking for a new angle. "Chat?" She looked back for him, to see if he'd got himself free. 

As the whip receded, she saw a new cocoon on the ground. She could see the impression of his ears against it, just before it thickened and hardened. 

Ladybug narrowed her eyes and tightened her jaw. "Weaver?" 

The new miraculous holder landed beside her. “I can release him.” 

“Now?” 

He hesitated, then nodded. “All the victims, but I won’t be able to help after that.” He rubbed at his bracelet. 

Ladybug nodded. “Do that, help them.” 

"And you'll go after her?" 

The yoyo was a vicious hum at Ladybug's side as she watched the akuma. 

She'd coiled back in her whip, still standing in the entrance to the catacombs. Who was she looking for? Hawkmoth didn't seem to be intervening much, but then she hadn't got close enough yet, had she? 

"The one who did this to her is after mine and Chat's miraculous." Ladybug glanced back at the cocoon that held Chat. At least the akuma hadn't gone for him, yet. Maybe just holding him safe until she had both of them _and_ her own target. 

Whatever that was. She'd been... quiet on the subject. Barely said a word at all, apart from to reply to the taunts, to tell them her name. 

"So I'll get her akuma. Scarf?" 

Weaver hesitated before he nodded. "That's most likely." 

"When you free Chat, send him after me." 

Weaver nodded and leapt away, using his faint extra legs for bounce. 

As Moroi saw him, she snapped out her whip, stepping away from the entrance to the catacombs. 

Ladybug crouched low to the roof, watching. If they went below, she wouldn't be able to use her yoyo, but Moroi wouldn't be able to use her whip, which seemed to be the main source of her power. 

Faint police sirens in the distance- or were they close by, but the akuma's power was muting them, somehow? -signalled that a cordon had been set. Good. No one else would be trapped in it, and maybe that would hold Alya- 

She groaned. No sooner had she thought it than she spotted Alya around the corner of a building, phone out and filming the area. 

" _Little spider_ ," crooned Moroi, turning as Weaver avoided her attacks, spinning between them and flashing out his own thread, cutting away at her whip. " _Why do you fight me?_ " 

Ladybug swung down and pushed Alya back around the corner. "Stay back, would you?" she hissed, keeping her voice low. 

"Ladybug! Who's the new hero?" Alya grinned, redirecting her phone. Her voice was loud in the stillness of the square, and Moroi looked their way. 

Ladybug grabbed Alya around the waist and leapt, swinging them up and out of the way as Moroi swung her whip at them. 

Alya filmed over her shoulder, irrepressible. "Where's Chat?" 

"Working a new angle," Ladybug replied, setting Alya down and pushing her head below the railing. "Stay here. Stay out of sight." 

Ladybug swung away, catching sight of Weaver. 

He'd stepped down from the walls, standing before Moroi. " _Please_ , Cai." He twisted the thread in his hands, making it into a web. "You don't have to-" 

" _My name is not_ Cai, _little spider_ ," she snapped, the loudest her voice had been. 

Ladybug kept low, out of sight, as she crept around behind Moroi, to the entrance of the catacombs. 

"Moroi, then." Weaver barely flinched as she snapped her whip at him; a flash of his golden thread and it fell away to dust. "You aren't this, you don't need to prove anything, there isn't-" 

" _Who said I am proving anything?_ " Moroi laughed, and the sound was a chilling wind that shivered down everyone's spine. " _I am... returning a favour_." She turned her head, and Ladybug caught sight of the butterfly mask over her eyes just before Moroi focused on her. 

Ladybug spun out her yoyo and caught Moroi by the waist before Moroi could attack her. Setting her feet against the cobbles, she yanked _hard_ and brought the akuma flying towards her. 

Sidestepping at the last moment, she made a snatch for the dusty scarf at Moroi's neck. It at odds with the rest of her outfit, the akuma _had_ to be in there, Weaver's guess _had_ to be right. 

Moroi caught her hands and dragged Ladybug tumbling down into the catacombs with her. 

Ladybug broke free and rolled, scrambling to her feet and whipping her yoyo back. 

" _Whatever will you do without your partner_?" Moroi got to her feet, elegant and laughing. " _Can you succeed without him_?" 

The air was thick with fear, cloying at Ladybug's throat. She gulped, spinning her yoyo at her side. 

" _I see who you are, Ladybug... you're a scared little girl, desperate to do the right thing but so afraid that you'll mess up and disappoint everyone_." Moroi sauntered towards her, skull mask seeming to glow in the dark of the catacombs. 

Ladybug took an involuntary step back and came up against the wall. Her yoyo clattered against it and fell to the ground. 

" _Under that mask, you're just a girl. Just a scared little girl who can't do anything right_." Moroi came up close, looming over her, reaching out her free, skeletal hand for Ladybug's earrings. 

"But that doesn't stop me _trying_ ," Ladybug retorted, and slapped Moroi's hand away, pushing her back. 

Moroi let out a sibilant hiss, and the exits were cloaked in thick webs and cloaks of shadows. 

Ladybug spun her yoyo into one and it bounced back into her hand. 

The light was fading fast, and Moroi seemed to grow with the darkness and the cloying terror that grew thick about them. 

The cold bit, too, and she could almost see it, like crypt mist about their ankles, fogging her breath. 

Ladybug set her stance and threw her yoyo up. "Lucky Charm!" 

The burst of light sent Moroi reeling back, turning away. 

Ladybug caught the charm and stumbled under its weight. "A - _gravestone_?" She ran her hands over it to make out its shape. "What..." 

What use was this? There was nothing... Ladybug glanced about the small cave, trying to work out what she could do with a _gravestone_. 

" _Whose name does it have on it, little bug_?" Moroi stalked towards her. " _Yours? Or does your companion waste away in his nightmare for eternity, you trapped here and unable to help him?_ " 

Ladybug tottered a step back and dropped the tombstone between them. 

It hit the ground with a dull thud, and Moroi _hesitated_ at it, at the tremor that seemed to ripple at her and her alone. She almost dropped her whip as she reached out her hand to the tombstone, reading its inscription. 

“ _That’s not_ -” 

"Cataclysm!" There was a muffled cry from outside, beyond the blocked entrance, and it blew to dust and let the light in, and then Chat was there, a silhouette bathed in light. 

"Chat!" Ladybug grinned. 

"I hope it wasn't _too_ nightmare-ish without me." He grinned, leaping at Moroi's back. 

Moroi turned, too slowly, and raised her whip in a loose hand. Chat tangled it about his staff and pulled it away. 

Ladybug leapt the tombstone and pulled the scarf free, tearing it apart in her hands. 

"No!" Moroi grasped at her neck, turning, eyes wide. 

"Goodbye, little akuma!" Ladybug sent her yoyo spinning after the akuma as it fluttered away. 

Moroi fell to her knees as Hawkmoth's power left her. 

Ladybug hefted the tombstone. "Miraculous – Ladybug!" It was a weight, but she managed the charm, and ladybugs exploded outward, clearing up the miasma of fear and death, the blocked tunnels that the akuma had caused. 

"Was… was that a tombstone?" Chat tilted his head, a slight smirk playing his face. "Was it that grave without me?" 

Ladybug snorted. “Don’t you know it, kitty.” She turned to the akuma victim, crouching down and holding out the scarf. 

The woman had her eyes shut, shaking her head as if to scatter water. She dug her nails into the ground and let out a shuddering breath. 

"Cai!" A teenaged boy, not much older than Ladybug herself, came running down the steps. "Cai, are you alright?" 

"Oscar-" She looked up, didn't get out much before he cannoned into her, bowling her backwards. 

“I’m sorry, maybe this was a bad idea to come down here.” 

“I didn’t-” She tightened her grip on him. “ _Fuck_.” 

Chat and Ladybug shared a glance, their miraculous beeping in sync with each other. "Pound it." They tapped fists and left the two to their reunion. 

"Where's Weaver?" Ladybug held her hand up against the sun as they left, squinting around. 

The square was empty of the ruckus of their fight; cars back in place, no webs or thread left. Some people, disoriented still, and Alya moving amongst them for interviews. 

"I think he used his power to free us," Chat said, studying his hands. "So he must have split." 

Ladybug frowned. “I’d like more of a chat with him.” 

“Another miraculous user.” Chat hummed in agreement. “And not one we’re aware of.” 

"Ladybug, Chat Noir!" 

They turned as Oscar caught up with them. "Thank you. My sister, she-" 

"It's alright." Ladybug held up a hand to forestall. "Just... make sure she's alright?" Her earrings beeped again. 

Oscar flashed a gaze to one of them, pulling his sleeve about his wrist. 

"Enjoy the rest of your stay in fair Paris," Chat Noir said, bowing first to Oscar and then to Ladybug. "My lady." He extended his staff and pushed himself away over the rooftops. 

"Quickly, an interview?" Alya called, hurrying over. “Who was that new hero? Will they be joining you again?” 

"I _really_ have to go," Ladybug said, and swung out her yoyo in the opposite direction to Chat Noir. "Sorry!"


	2. In Which Chat Noir Faces his Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter necessary? Possibly not; I just wanted to show off Moroi and Weaver lmao

The whip crashed in against where they had been seconds later; Weaver was clear, using his thread to cut away any that got close. Chat was less lucky (as if there was ever any doubt about that) and was _drowning_ in a river of horse hair that had no end and though he could feel his feet on the ground he was still sinking… and sinking… and there was nothing but bleak darkness and soft, soft hair that cradled him into nothingness. 

 

Chat Noir lands on his feet in the inky blackness, staff held before him. He can see nothing but the ghost of it before him; he _knows_ his staff is there, can feel it in his hands, so it is. 

The darkness is blacker than his suit, soft and choking as velvet drawn too tight, but cold enough that he shivers. 

There is no one with him, but he feels watched. 

“Hello?” His voice sinks without a trace, without an echo. 

Chat Noir tenses, rolling his shoulders to hunch in on himself. His ears flick, eyes wide and scanning for anything that might help him. He needs to get back out, to help Ladybug. 

“ _And what help would you be_?” 

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir spins about. “Did she get you-” 

“ _Of course not_.” Ladybug laughs as she steps out of the gloom, glowing with a sickly sort of light. “ _You think I would be brought down so easily_?” 

Chat Noir’s ears flatten against his hair. “I was making sure you didn’t get hit-” 

“ _It’s the only thing you’re good at_ ,” Ladybug agrees. “ _But that’s not all I need from my partner_.” She holds out her hand. 

Chat Noir shakes his head and backs up. “No-” 

“ _You’re a liability, Chat. It would be better for Paris if you stopped here. If I chose a new partner_.” She steps forward, hand still out. 

Chat wraps his right hand around his staff and pulls it to his chest, covering his ring with his left hand. “No. No, I was given this ring because I was _worthy_ of it, and you don’t get to take that away.” 

“ _And what if I decide you’re not worthy anymore? What if I choose someone else to fight with me_?” She’s inexorable, still marching at the same steady pace as Chat turns and breaks into a run and can’t leave her behind. “ _Give up your ring, Kitty_.” 

“No!” Chat yells, and trips and falls into the blackness again. 

“ _She's right, kid_.” Plagg floats beside him as he falls. “ _Maybe it’s time to give this whole thing a rest. You tried your best_.” 

“Plagg-” Chat’s still in his suit. Plagg can’t be there. “What are you saying?” 

“ _That it’s time you focused on your own life_.” 

“This _is_ my life.” 

“ _Falling_?” Plagg laughs. “ _Maybe you should learn to stand on your own feet, then_.” 

Adrien stumbles as his feet hit something solid, and he drops to his knees. “Plagg? Plagg!” 

He is alone once more. And worse; he is _Adrien_ , without the suit but the grey ring still on his finger. Does that mean the akuma knows who he is? That Hawkmoth- 

“ _Adrien. Are you done playing with your foolish fantasies_?” 

“Father?” Adrien looks up. 

“ _Get up_.” Gabriel glances at him fleetingly, face impassive. “ _On your feet; I will have no one saying that an Agreste begs_.” 

Adrien scrambles to his feet. “Father-” 

“ _I have indulged this long enough. You will not be going back to that school; it is a needless distraction_.” 

“I-” 

“ _Your learning has significantly slowed since you started there. I will return your tutors and we will have no more of this_.” 

Adrien drops his head. 

“ _And give me that ring_.” Gabriel holds out his hand. 

“No.” Adrien pulls back, stepping away. “I won’t.” It's the one thing he's sure of, the one thing he'll hold onto; _he will not give up Plagg's ring_.

“ _Then you will fall_ ,” Gabriel replies, “ _And you will be alone_.” He turns and walks away, head high and back straight as he leaves Adrien behind in the darkness. 

“No wait-!” Adrien reaches out a hand. “Father-” He takes a step, and falls. 

The blackness returns. 

Adrien closes his eyes. All he can do is wait for Ladybug to beat the akuma and save them all. All he can ever do. He’s played his part, he’s saved her for the next part of the fight. She can do this. 

And Weaver’s there, that new miraculous holder. 

Chat Noir isn’t - _Adrien_ isn’t necessary. 

“ **You know this isn’t true**.” 

Adrien hits a golden web and bounces, and when he lands again, he’s Chat Noir. 

“ **Wake up, Chat Noir. Your Lady needs you**.” 

He doesn’t recognise the voice, but it’s soft and warm and seems to dispell the darkness and the cold. 

The web glows and doesn’t cut into him as it draws closer, drawing up the edges into a cocoon and pulling him upwards. 

“Maybe it would be better,” he mutters, toying with his ring, “If she didn’t. If I just– left. She has Weaver.” 

There’s something about the web that seems to be clearing his mind, dispelling all the fears that the blackness brought. It makes it easier to think, to be himself. 

Chat Noir gets to his feet. It wouldn’t be better. It would be easier – for him, but... not for her. They were two halves of a whole, and so...

“ ** _Come on, Kitty_**.” That’s Ladybug – the _real_ Ladybug. “ ** _We’ve got work to do_**.” 

Chat Noir reaches up and wraps his gloved right hand about the golden thread pulling the web together. They gather tight about him and he _flies_ back through the darkness, stripping it to midnight blue, to deep purple, to sunrise. 

 

Chat Noir gasped, choking on gulps of air as he tore away musty shrouds of graveyard cloth and dust from his face, scrambling free of a cocoon that dissolved back into the ground. 

The square was full of people sitting up, coughing, scrambling to hug each other. And everywhere, golden threads against the last of the cocoons as they dissolved to pieces. The broken moans were giving way to gasps and murmured reassurances as people struggled free and found each other. 

Chat turned on his feet, looking about for the source of the golden threads. 

Weaver was perched on top of the entrance to the catacombs, spinning a delicate web of gold like a cat’s cradle between his fingers. The threads extended from there, from _him_. 

“Where’s Ladybug?” Chat called, extending his staff as he picked his way through the recovering victims. 

One of Weaver’s shadowy legs pointed down, into the catacombs. Weaver himself didn’t answer, didn’t acknowledge Chat. 

“Is that a new miraculous holder?” Alya steps in beside Chat, having picked her way around the victims to his side. 

He flicks an ear at her arrival, not startled; of course she’s here. But he didn’t think she’d been one of the cocoons, so she must have come after. “Yes.” He continues walking towards Weaver, towards the catacombs. 

“Is he the reason behind this attack, is he joining your team- what can you-” 

“Later, Alya.” He held up a hand to stop her. “We’ve got to stop the akuma first.” 

“Whatever I can do.” She grinned, saluting. 

Chat Noir hesitated and turned to her. “Help them,” he said eventually, pointing at the people. “Do what we can’t.” He didn’t wait for an answer. His lady needed him. 

Chat Noir ran down the stairs into the catacombs, and came up against a barrier of shadows and death and hair, of spider silk and shrouds and fear. 

His claws had no purchase on it when he tried to dig them in, and neither did his staff. 

But he could hear Ladybug beyond it, and she was… she sounded scared. She was hiding it, her bravado up with her fight, but he knew her. She was scared and hiding it and he had to get through to her. 

“Cataclysm!” Chat roared, and slammed his whole hand into the barrier. 

It dissolved away into ash that fluttered around him, letting a little light into the caves below. 

He saw Moroi first, her back to him. Standing over a tombstone. 

Chat’s ears flattened and he leapt for her back, claws extended. 

She turned, raising her whip. 

He extended his staff and knocked it free, sending both weapons across the cave. As he landed on the ground in front of her (almost _on_ her, he was so close), she stumbled back against the tombstone, losing her balance. 

Ladybug pulled the scarf free from Moroi’s neck. 

Moroi twisted, dropping to her knees as she grabbed at her bare neck. “No!” 

Chat let out a quiet sigh, relaxing as Ladybug purified the akuma and threw the tombstone – _the tombstone_ – into the air for the cure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next time; a chat between miraculous holders!  
>  Maybe in another month? Maybe sooner? who the heck knows  
>  some polite nudging may be allowable @captainnightgale on tumblr!


	3. In Which Talks are Had

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I should probably say now that I haven't really seen all that much of season two but I _have_ seen a lot of the salt flying round. Is part of this inspired by that? Maybe.

Ladybug found Chat Noir kicking his heels off the edge of a building on his patrol route. “I was looking for you.” She dropped down beside him. “You didn’t answer.” 

Chat glanced at his baton, lying beside him. It was still flashing with the alerts. “I didn’t hear them.” 

“So.” Ladybug nudged him. “What’s on your mind?” 

Chat caught his breath and then sighed. “How’s the new miraculous user to work with?” 

Ladybug frowned. “His power seemed to cancel out the akuma pretty well. And he could wake everyone up, which... if it had gone on longer, that would have been useful.” 

Chat shifted. “It’s good you had someone watching your back.” 

“Well - yes,” Ladybug replied. “But I have you for that, I don’t...” 

“And when I get trapped by the akuma?” Chat drew his knees up to his chest. “It’s happening a lot.” 

“Because you’re making sure I don’t get hit.” 

“Because you’re the one who can actually do something about them.” 

Ladybug squinted at him and sighed, looking away again. 

“I know, I get it – you have the power to purify them. I run distraction to make sure you can help them all. But... but when I get turned, or knocked out, or just-” Chat shook his head, toying with his ring. “If Weaver is hanging around, then maybe it’s time I...” He doesn’t want to give it voice; doesn’t want to hear her agree, to still be trapped in the fear that the akuma showed him. 

Because he didn’t want to have to give up the ring, but when he’s consistently taken out of the picture and she still succeeds, then maybe there’s no use for him. Maybe if she didn’t have to watch her back to make sure he wasn’t on the prowl after her, at the whim of the next akuma, it would go more smoothly. 

“Are you... really trying to say that?” Ladybug asked softly. “Do you really think I’d be better off without you at my side?” 

“I’m on the other side of the line more often than I’m on yours,” Chat said, the bitterness seeping into his voice. “How much easier would it be for you if I wasn’t there at all?” 

Ladybug stared at him. “I - you know what? Fine.” She stood up. “I get it. Being hit by the akuma – it can’t be nice. I wouldn’t know because you always sacrifice yourself.” 

Chat’s ears flattened to his head. He ducked his head, staring at his gloves as he fiddled with his ring still. 

“But listen, Kitty.” 

He twitched, as if to look up, but didn’t. 

“It’s you that was chosen to be my partner. You’re the one he found worthy of that ring. And to give it up, just because-” 

“Don’t go saying anything you’re going to regret, now.” Weaver’s soft voice broke through Ladybug’s easily, despite the difference in volumes. 

Ladybug had her yoyo in her hand, ready to spin as she looked around. She hadn’t been aware that her voice was raised, that anyone was nearing. 

Chat was on his feet and tense, baton in one hand behind his back. 

Weaver was sitting cross-legged on a chimney nearby, his ghost extra legs seeming loose behind him. “You’re a hard pair to track down. Well, until you start shouting.” He smiled. 

Ladybug lowered her yoyo. “We weren’t sure how to get in contact with you.” 

“Shouting works.” Weaver stood up. His extra legs were harder to see in the night, but they sounded out little tik-tik-tiks when they latched onto something, as he climbed down to their level. 

“Sorry,” said Ladybug on reflex, and then “Sorry,” again to Chat, because she shouldn’t have raised her voice, even if it was about things he needed to hear. 

“What are you doing here?” Chat asked. His teeth weren’t quite bared, but there was a snap in his voice. 

“To thank you for helping earlier. With Moroi. And to check that you were alright.” Weaver stayed a careful distance from the both of them. 

“The miraculous cure fixes everything,” Chat replied. 

“Does it let you forget what happened? Does it wipe out the time and the fight?” 

“No.” 

“Then it doesn’t fix everything.” Weaver shrugged. “Moroi - Cai – doesn't remember doing... all that. She remembers being angry and scared, and a voice... and then nothing until she was in the catacombs with you. 

“The akumatised never remember,” Ladybug murmured. “But we – the rest of us – we have to. So it doesn’t happen again.” 

“So the rest of us can learn from it and our mistakes and make the world better,” Chat said, standing up from his defensive crouch to be of a height with Weaver. 

“And you... want to take a step back?” Weaver held his hands out to show they were empty and took a careful step forward. 

Chat narrowed his eyes. “What is it to you?” 

“Chat.” Ladybug laid a hand on his arm. “He won’t,” she said to Weaver. “It was just a... a hard akuma for us.” She tilted her head and studied him. “We were lucky you came along.” 

“I wasn’t expecting to have anything like this on holiday, but...” Weaver shrugged. “Never travel without them, right?” He twitched his wrist, bringing attention to his miraculous item. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir traded a glance. Neither of them had considered ever leaving Paris, now; they couldn’t, not without being assured that Hawkmoth was finished. 

“So you aren’t sticking around.” Chat hadn’t backed down, because Ladybug might take her hand off him if he did and he needed her touch right now. It was warm and soothing, and chasing away the last of the miasma from the akuma’s attack. 

“Oh - no, I can’t.” Weaver smiled, shaking his head. “And besides – you have each other. You don’t need me as well.” 

Ladybug shot Chat a look that was almost self-satisfied and ‘I-told-you-so' as she stepped to his side and then past him, hand falling from his arm. “Thank you. For all your help.” She held out her hand. 

Weaver grinned. “Glad I could.” He shook her hand. “And hey, if we could-” one of his ghostly legs pulled an item that was somewhere between a drop needle and a spinnerette from behind his back. “Keep in contact?” The end of it flipped open to show a screen. 

There was only one contact there already, for someone called Siccar Cuillin, which was greyed out at the moment. 

“Your partner?” Ladybug asked, turning her yoyo over to open the contact list. 

“Mhm.” Weaver held his spinnerette close until the two items synced, showing each other’s contact info. “Chat Noir?” 

Chat startled, looking up. “Oh - here.” He twisted his baton around to show the contacts and held it out. 

Weaver smiled. “Thank you. And – can I speak to you for a moment?” He watched Chat. “Alone?” 

Ladybug smiled and backed off, spinning her yoyo. “I’ll finish patrol. You know where to find me afterwards, Chat,” she said, in the tone of voice that suggested that they weren’t done yet. 

Chat nodded and watched as she spun out her yoyo and leapt away from the rooftop. 

When she was out of sight, Weaver handed his spinnerette back to his ghostly legs, and they tucked it back behind his back. “I saw your nightmares.” 

Chat stiffened and narrowed his eyes, taking a step back. “You saw-” 

“Who you are doesn’t matter.” Weaver had his hands up. “We’re on the same side here. I don’t gain anything from telling anyone.” 

“Then why bring it up?” 

“Because I understand. Your fears are – we play second fiddle to a different user. And I’ve heard a lot about you in the time I’ve been here, Chat. Ladybug might be the leader of your duo, but you... you’re not without worth.” 

“Is this supposed to make me feel better?” 

“It’s more-” Weaver sighed. “She cares about you, you know? And you don’t need to worry about another holder taking your place, because they can’t.” 

“We’re a matched set, I think,” Chat Noir replied. “I saw it, in a book...” 

“We come in to help because that’s what we do.” Weaver shrugged. “But the two of you work so well together, and that’s only going to get better if you just trust her.” 

“I do.” 

“Then trust that she isn’t going to give you up, because she won’t.” 

“I’ve been hit by the akuma so many times.” 

“So you’ve never seen her reaction to you being hit?” 

Chat shook his head. “I never... I don’t remember.” 

“If I’d gone with her to finish off the akuma, we maybe would have cleared her out quicker. Maybe if you hadn’t appeared, we could have done it. But that’s not the point.” Weaver tilted his head, shifting to catch Chat’s eyes. “She waited for you to appear before doing anything too much. When you got hit, she asked – ordered – me to get you free, because she wanted you at her side.” Weaver shook his head. “I’m passing through. You’re always there for her.” 

Chat pulled back, head cocked. “I... see your point.” Ladybug had said almost the same, and... he knew they were right, but... “She was persuasive. The akuma.” 

A shadow passed over Weaver’s face. “She’s dealing with a lot of her own trouble at the moment, and they manifested in that. But your fears – they only have power if you let them. And I don’t think Ladybug would like you to let them.” 

“No.” Chat tipped his head back, looking at the sky. “She wouldn’t.” 

They stood in silence as Chat rolled things over. 

The fears were still there, but they were quieter. He knew Ladybug wouldn’t let him go. He knew that. And Plagg – they'd talked a bit, earlier, because of course Plagg knew what had gone on. This was the part of his life he didn’t have to worry about, because it would be his until he decided otherwise. Ladybug needed him – she wanted him, no one else, at her side. 

“I can’t help with the outside-the-mask stuff,” Weaver said quietly. “But-” 

“No, that’s... thank you.” Chat dropped his head to look at Weaver. “That’s - thank you. Sometimes you just... need to hear it from someone outside.” 

“Well, you have my number.” Weaver gestured at Chat’s staff. “Our time zones aren’t too different.” 

“I’ll... I’ll keep that in mind.” Chat glanced to the side, out over the city towards where he knew Ladybug would be waiting. “So - goodbye, Weaver.” 

“My friends call me Wiz.” Weaver smiled, holding out a hand. 

“Maybe we’ll see you again, Wiz.” Chat grinned, shaking his hand. “Thank you.” 

“Any time.” Weaver backed up and turned, leaping across buildings and away. 

Chat ran in the opposite direction, extending his baton and launching himself into the night. 

 

Chat Noir landed on the struts of the Eiffel Tower, not too far from where Ladybug was perched. 

“Hello, Kitty.” She looked up as he approached. “Did you get everything sorted out?” 

He sat beside her, one leg over the edge and his other foot tucked against his butt so he could lean his elbow on his knee. “I think so. And... sorry.” He studied his ring. “For trying to quit on you. I wasn’t - thinking properly.” 

“Good.” Ladybug looked away, out over the city. “Good, I... don’t know what I would’ve done if you had quit. 

Chat winced. “It was a – low blow. I’m sorry.” 

Ladybug swayed, nudging him. “Don’t do it again and I may forgive you.” She smiled. 

“May?” Chat raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah. Bring the pastries next time and I definitely will.” Ladybug pulled out a bag she must have stashed earlier with the dupain-cheng logo on the side of it. “Here. For a hard day’s work.” She offered him the first pick. “Alright?” 

Chat grinned and picked out a croissant, scattering flakes across his suit. “You know it.” 

With the bag balanced on Ladybug’s knees, they relaxed back into their easy cameraderie and watched the city sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not so much like the song by the end of it, but hey! That was only the akuma attack (and that was all it was gonna be and then I realised I liked Weaver too much)  
>  Will we see them again? Nobody knows tbh. Nobody knows.

**Author's Note:**

> Next time; what did Chat Noir see in the coccoon? who the heck is Weaver?  
> Is it going to take another three months to find out? Who hecking knows


End file.
